obama seems to be moving away from it, congress may have squabbled over the debt ceiling, but they are not going to deal with the essential problem in a meaningful way. >> i am reading a book on lbj. jack kennedy was having the same problem with congress. everything was being sidetracked, they were not going anywhere. >> that is true. i would say this, as far as what senator obama said in 2006, consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. if there was a different attitude. we have raised the debt ceiling 70-plus times. there has always been that sense of we're not going to vote to raise the other guy's debt ceiling, but there was always the understanding that we would provide the votes in the final analysis. the president's party did that. right now, what you have is a situation where the republican party is reduced to its lowest standing in the history of "the wall street journal" poll. the only thing that is worse is john boehner. 18% favorable. this is not a formidable partner. >> over the weekend, "politico" spoke to many advisers and said house republicans and party leaders appear